Button



(No Model J. W. BEAUMUNT. BUTTON.

No. 508,498. Patented Nov. 14, 1893.

we mmumu. uwomumme COMPANY- WASHINGTON. u. c.

UN TED STATE PATENT @rnroa.

JAMES W. BEAUMONT, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

BUTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 508,498, dated November 14, 1893.

Application filed September 12, 1392. Serial No. 445.653; (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES W. BEAUMONT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Buttons, of which the following is a specification.

My improved button is of the class sometimes known as a bachelors button, adapted to be secured to any garment without sewing;

It may also be called a separable button. \It may be separated from the garment when required to facilitate washing and ironing and again securely attached with little labor.

'My button, as is usual with buttons of this general class, is made in two parts, each of which may be more or less compounded, applied upon opposite sides of the garment. I equip one part with two nearly parallel prongs, mounted so that they are capable of being moved toward each other but equipped with an efficient spring urging them apart. These two prongs and spring are carried in the back or fastener, the part which applies on the wrong side of the garment, and as a preparation for attaching the button, the two prongs are thrust through the garment in the right position. The body or head which applies on the outside of the garment and forms the button proper is hollow, and the back thereof or collet is equipped with a peculiarly shaped aperture having a long and a short diameter. Each of the prongs has one or more barbs on its outer side, the side which is farthest from the opposite prong and is urged outward by the spring. After the prongs have been thrust through and are protruded from the front of the garment a certain distance apart, the head is-applied with its aperture presented in such position as to receive the prongs in its long diameter. In this position the prongs are easily entered. Then holding the back with one hand and the button-head with the other, and applying a sufficient force, the

head is partially rotated relatively to the back. This movement springs the prongs together, causing them to be held in the shortest diameter of the aperture, in which position the barbs engage strongly and reliably with the metal of the collet, and will be retained so long as the back and the head are retained in such quarter-revolved position.

Slight notches are made near the center, one in each side of the aperture, which receive the prongs, the latter being urged outward into such notches or recesses by the strong elastic force of the spring. The two parts of the button are thus held reliably engaged against all accidental forces. W'hen it is desired to separate the parts of the button from each other, and thus to allow their separation from the garment, the reverse of the attaching movement is made,that is to say, the back is held firmly to resist rotation, and the front or head is turned a quarter revolution, either in the same direction as before or in the reverse direction. \Vhen this movement has been accomplished and the line joining the prongs extends the long way of.

the aperture, as at first, the barbs ldse their hold on the collet and the parts of the button may be separated by a direct motion from each other and from the garment. The rear face of the hub of the collet is concaved. The effect of this is to draw the button head closer to the fastener and consequently to press it more firmly to the garment when the parts have been turned to engage them.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification and represent what I consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

Figure l is a central section-through the button and the fastener, showing the parts properly attached to each other and to a garment. alone. It shows the face which is presented toward 'the garment. Fig. 3 represents the fastener. alone. It shows the face' which is presented toward the garment. The prongs are free and are held wide apart by the elastic force of the part of the wire which joins them.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where they appear.

A is the back or fastener, composed of a disk of sufficiently thick sheet brass or analogous material, formed by dies, or otherwise, and an inner face-plate A secured by afla'nge A turned inward, as shown, around the edge of the main disk A. The fastener incloses a bent portion B of a short lengthof strong and elastic wire, the ends of which are pointed,

Fig. 2 represents the head or body ICO and are bent at right angles to the plane of the back A, and form prongs B, B which are thrust through the fabric of the garment in preparing to attach the button thereto. Each prong is equipped on its outer face with a barb b. The plate A has a slot 0, through which the prongs extend and in which slot the prongs have liberty to move apart and together.

The main body or head of the button is formed of two parts, D and E, struck up and engaged together by their edges in the ordinary manner, with a sufficient. hollow space in the center between the collet D and the front E. The hub of the colletis formed with an aperture d, which is a long ellipse; and, if desired, the side edges of this slot or aperture may be raised between the ends of the aperture, as seen in Fig. 1, a rounded notch d on each side at the mid-length.

To attach one of my buttons, the back or fastener A, with its attachments is brought into position on the inner or wrong side of the garment M where one of the buttons is to be secured, and its prongs B, B are thrust through and protrude on the outer face or right, side of the garment. Then the front or body D E is brought into place and presented in the right position to receive the prongs B, B in or near the ends of the long diameter of its aperture. Now the front beingturned a quarter of a revolution on its own axis while the back and its prongs are held against rotation, the movement by the action of the edges of the aperture springs the prongs B, B together, and when in the correct position allows them to spring outward a little and be received in the shallow notches d. Now the button is fixed and will endure any ordinary usage so long as the garmentlasts. If the side edges of the Walls of the aperture cl are raised higher than the ends thereof it will be obvious that, when the parts of the button are thus turned, the barbs b of the prongs will travel up such side edges, and hence the two members of the button will be drawn slightly closer together; 2'. 6., from the position shown in dotted lines in Fig.1 to that shown in full lines therein. Therefore, the action of locking the parts of the button together also effects its tight clamping on the cloth.

In-resisting the severe strains in use, tending to pull the head away from the garment, the barbs I) keep a firm hold on the edges of the slot d in the collet. The parts are capableof resisting the ordinary slight twisting strains to which they may be subjected by the fact that the prongs B, B are urged apart by the elastic force of the portion B of the Wire which is inclosed in the sufficient space in the hollow back A. The parts cannot be separated until the front is turned relatively to the back and prongs, and this movement cannot be commenced except by forcibly springing the prongs nearer together to get them out of the notches d. In the turning of the parts a quarter revolution the prongs B will slide inward from their positions near the ends of the elliptical aperture (1, and in doing so will be drawn together against the resistance of their spring D. When the parts have been turned a quarter revolution so that the line joining the prongs coincides with the minor axis of the ellipse, they are presented to the notches and move strongly outward to a slight extent. By the tension of the spring B they engage in these notches. In this position the barbs Z; on the outer face of the prongs engage with the metal of the collet and prevent the fastener from being drawn out of the head, and also by the engagement of the prongs in the notches d. the parts are prevented from being partially revolved back to their separating position by any accidental force. The spring force is sufficient to resist all the torsional strains to which the button is liable to be subjected in use.

\Vhen it is desired to remove the button from the garment, the back A is strongly held by the fingers and thumb of the left hand, and the head D, E, is strongly grasped, as by a finger and thumb of the right hand, and the parts thus held are subjected to a sufficient twisting force to overcome the elasticity of the part B and compel the prongs B',B?, to yield inward sufficiently to escape from the rounded notches (1. After this movement is commenced, it is easy to complete a quarter revolution of the parts relatively to. each other. Then the prongs B, B stand in the long axis of the aperture d, and their barbs b no longer engage with the metal of the collet.- Nowthe head may be easily taken away, and the back may be similarly removed, drawing out the prongs B, B through the fabric M andthe removal is complete. The parts may be, secured together again, or allowed to remain detached while the button is out of use, as convenience may dictate. I v

The concave form of the back face of the hub of the collet D has the etfect to draw the parts more firmly together in the act of tnrning the fastener and head relatively ,to each other. The turning compresses the prongs together and thus engages their barbs b with the metal of the collet, and it also by causing such barbs to move not along a plane but along the domed interior of the hub, pulls the fastener and the head together and increases the firmness of the fastening.

Modifications may be made without departing from the principle or sacrificing the, advantages of the invention. The dies in which the parts are shaped, and especially the die which acts on the outer face of the front plate or cap E, may be varied indefinitely. The length of the prongs B, B and the number of barbs or notches therein, the degree of inclination of the barbs toward each other, and the length and curvature of the elastic portion B may be varied. The length of the slot a in the plate A the amount and form in which the several parts are dished, and the extent to which the edges of the parts A and E are curled or folded inward toward the axis or center of the button may be varied. It is essential that the fastener takes a strong hold of the part B of the wire, and retains it with its prongs, and also allows its ends such freedom that they may be moved forcibly inward or together and allowed to spring outward or apart to a sufficient extent.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a button, the combination with a hollow head and a back or fastener, of two prongs B, B barbed on their outer sides, and urged apart by a spring B carried in one part, and with. the opposite part formed'with an elongated aperture d, with rounded notches d at its mid-length, all arranged to serve substan-- tially as herein specified.

2'. The herein described separable button in two parts, comprising a spring having two prongs extending substantially parallel, with pointed extremities and barbed on their outer faces, in combination with a separate hollow part, the adjacent face of which is provided with an oblong aperture of a length greater than the greatest distance apart of such prongs and of a width less than such distance and adapted to allow said barbed prongs to be inserted or removed when standing in the ends of the aperture, but causing them to be strongly engaged when the parts are turned a quarter revolution relatively to each other so as to bring the barbed prongs near together in the mid-length of the aperture, allsubstantially as herein specified.

3. The herein described separable button comprising a hollow back piece having a slot in its'front face, a springiuclosed within such back piece, with parallel prongs extending out through said slot, and barbed on their outer faces, in combination with a hollow head the collet of which has a hub with a concave .rear face and an oblong aperture having greater length and less width than the normal distention of said prongs, and having notches at the mid-length of such aperture which receive the prongs and resist accidental turning of the parts relatively to each other, all adapted. for joint operation substantially as and for the purposes herein specified.

4:. The herein described separable button JAMES w. BEAUMONT.

Witnesses:

GEO. T; LAKE, CHRIS STROBEL. 

